April 2012

International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Silicon Valley Chapter organized a meeting to discuss Cloud Computing Impacts on Facilities Management (FM). The meeting was held at NetApp, Sunnyvale, CA on March 28, 2012. The discussion was led by a panel of experts in Cloud Computing, Information Technology and Data Center facilities.

The speakers Arun Kanchi, Exafort, Bruce Thorpe, NVIDIA and Steve Paszkiewicz, Risk Management Solutions gave an enlightening talk on Cloud Computing and its impact on FM. The meeting was focused on how the rapid adoption of Cloud Computing by organizations world-wide is changing the real estate landscape, the ever increasing closeness of IT and facilities groups and its positive impact on jobs...

Cloud computing and cloud services stocks rose a robust 26 percent in Q1 2012, according to our Talkin’ Cloud Stocks Index, which includes 20 companies. But which cloud computing companies saw their shares rise the most in Q1 2012?

According to our index, here are the top 10 cloud computing stocks and their returns for the quarter...

Actian Corporation today announced that it has signed a strategic partner agreement with FlyingBinary, provider of disruptive analytics and cloud computing solutions, and Tableau, the global leader in rapid-fire business intelligence software, to take Big Data and Social Measurement Optimization solutions to market. The announcement was made ahead of the Tableau European Customer Conference in Barcelona from April 2-4 where Actian is a sponsor.

FlyingBinary will integrate Actian's Vectorwise, holder of multiple world records for performance and price performance, and business intelligence (BI) software Tableau in a cutting-edge, comprehensive business analytics solution that allows organizations ranging from financial institutions, retail and investment banking, online communities, manufacturing, advertising agencies and telecommunications companies to distill business insight from the growing tsunami of data...

One of the greatest products of human society is the marketplace. Webster defines it as a place where goods and services are offered for sale.

Over millennia, innovations took markets from local to global, and now to the 21st century iteration - virtual. Virtual markets are powered by “cloud computing,” aka “the cloud,” and accessed via the Internet.

Historically, as trade expanded markets, products led the way because services were difficult to convey to the last mile of consumption. But technology has helped services catch up, and now digital services are delivered efficiently from the cloud. And more than anything else, this last reality is helping small businesses compete and grow in ways that were formerly the domain of larger companies...

CLOUD computing is a buzzword that seems to be on everyone's lips. You are forgiven if you imagine that this is some celestial data centre with cherubic technicians playing harps of code, but there's a reason why engineers chose maths over language!

Wikipedia defines cloud computing as the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility over a network (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing)...

After writing my last blog on the government use of cloud solutions, I attended two events and found solutions that can address the need of leveraging data analytics toimproving business outcomes. The internet of things has been a hot term for a long time and the associated challenge has always been on how to leverage this data. Challenges facing governments in collecting a wide realm of data from multiple sources has been a perpetual challenge but cloud computing and big data analytics makes it a “solvable” problem...

While Dell lost some market share last year to Lenovo, they still hold a strong presence in both the desktop and server market. It looks like the company is hoping to make more inroads into the virtualization market, as Dell this morning announced the acquisition of cloud client computing company Wyse Technology.

Wyse currently offer several thin and zero cloud clients, as well as cloud management and virtualization software. Wyse also offer similar software for mobiledevices to enable access to data in the cloud for businesses...

Eucalyptus Systems, creator of the most widely deployed on-premise cloud computing platform, today announced a strategic partnership with China Electronics Technology Group Corporation No. 32 Research Institute (CETC32), one of the largest IT solutions and services providers in China. CETC32 will leverage Eucalyptus to provide integrated solutions to customers implementing cloud computing as part of their business strategy. CETC and Eucalyptus will formalize the partnership at a signing ceremony on April 6 in Shanghai.

Under the agreement, Eucalyptus' on-premise Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platform will serve as the foundation of CETC32's Hua-Cloud, which serves the Public Security, Health and Medical, Smart Traffic, Food Security and SME markets. Based on Eucalyptus' technology, CETC32 will develop specific features to meet local customer requirements under the Hua-Cloud brand. Eucalyptus and CETC32 will also set up a joint lab facility in Shanghai to accelerate local research and development...

The basic building block of many cloud computing environments is the virtual image. Most IT departments have been using virtualization for quite some time and are comfortable with the technology. This level of comfort is why I believe it is often overlooked as a crucial element of many cloud-based services. And trust me, what may seem like a minor oversight can have significant impacts that reverberate for the life of your cloud environment.

Put simply, poorly designed virtual images are far more likely to increase management overhead, decrease agility, and hamper an enterprise than they are to contribute to achieving the benefits we often associate with the use of cloud computing...

Cisco today announced it is joining forces with EMC to offer comprehensive technical education solutions in the areas of cloud architecture, virtualization, storage, data center networking and data science. The joint education solutions from Cisco and EMC, which also incorporate courseware from VMware, will offer advanced training and certifications to help organizations acquire the skills required to successfully architect, build, and transform their IT infrastructures, adopt cloud computing, and realize the promise of big data and data science...

Analyst house Gartner has outlined five key trends that will shape cloud computing strategies between now and 2015.

Included in Gartner's list is the growing importance of the hybrid cloud model and cloud-centric design. David Cearley, vice president and Gartner Fellow, who put the list together, said cloud will signal a fundamental shift in IT.

"Cloud computing is a major technology trend that has permeated the market over the last two years," he said. "It sets the stage for a new approach to IT that enables individuals and businesses to choose how they'll acquire or deliver IT services, with reduced emphasis on the constraints of traditional software and hardware licensing models."...

Red Hat won’t spin up its own public cloud service but is getting serious with Amazon on OpenShift.

That’s according to Red Hat’s vice-president for cloud computing Scott Crenshaw who last week said the open-source biz has “no plans” to become a cloud provider.

Crenshaw told reporters in London that Red Hat wants to focus on areas where it believes it can “add value” - operating its own public data centre isn’t one of those areas. “We have absolutely no plans right now to become a cloud provider,” Crenshaw said.

“Red Hat wants to focus its resources in areas where can add the most value and we don’t think we add the most value in the operation of a data centre. We have hard skills in helping people do that but where we put our resources are on things that matter to developers and operations people.”...

Continual monitoring of cloud computing trends, with regular updates to the enterprise's cloud strategy, will be essential to avoid costly mistakes or miss market opportunities over the next few years, according to Gartner, Inc. Although the potential for cloud computing is significant, the breadth and depth of the impact, as well as the level of adoption over time, are uncertain and will require frequent review.

"Cloud computing is a major technology trend that has permeated the market over the last two years. It sets the stage for a new approach to IT that enables individuals and businesses to choose how they'll acquire or deliver IT services, with reduced emphasis on the constraints of traditional software and hardware licensing models," said David Cearley, vice president and Gartner Fellow. "Cloud computing has a significant potential impact on every aspect of IT and how users access applications, information and business services."...

Terremark is offering "single-tenant cloud computing," which until recently was known as dedicated hosted services--or some other name for outsourced system operation. But the times they are a changin' and the formerly distinct lines of service providers are blurring.

Terremark will offer Enterprise Cloud, Private Edition, a cookie-cutter copy of its public infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), except it has additional isolation and security features. Amazon Web Services, Rackspace Cloud, and the Savvis unit of CenturyLink have already launched versions of "private" cloud operation as an auxiliary service of the public IaaS...

B2B lead generation services firm emedia introduces Cloud Computing Insights, a content destination site for developers, systems & applications specialists, and CTOs. Parties involved in the developer, platform, and client areas of the cloud market can access a range of relevant collateral and articles on the new site.

On the other hand, marketers targeting cloud audiences will generate demand, and sales leads in particular, with their offers...

Martin Campbell won't forget December 26, 2004. The UK managing director of cloud computing outfit Convio was all set to enjoy Boxing Day when word came that a massive tsunami had devastated coastal areas across South East Asia.

As details of one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history began to unfold, Campbell, who at the time was in charge of a hosted website platform for the British Red Cross, battled for two days to bring new servers online in time to deal with a flood of donations...

The survey, completed by more than 1,650 IT and security decision-makers from a range of industries, highlights the growth in cloud computing investments, demonstrating the value cloud computing provides to organizations. Respondents state that 34% of their current IT budget is allocated to cloud computing solutions and more than half (63%) expect to increase spending in the next 12 months. On average, organizations will increase cloud computing spending by 16%...

As I travel around the country meeting with IT professionals and attending or speaking at industry events, I am amazed by how many different versions there are of "cloud computing."

As the guy who wrote the Storage Area Networks for Dummies book, I have decided to take a stand and make known my simple view of what cloud computingreallymeans to IT folks.

In this blog, let's first start with the official geek version as a baseline. (My next post will provide insight into the actual financial and technology characterization.)

NIST definition of cloud computing:

The formal definition of cloud computing comes from the smart folks who make standards for a living. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) definition contained within special publications number 800-145 states, "Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models." ...

General Dynamics has been awarded two contracts by the United States Army to develop and implement fixed and mobile cloud computing capacity for the Area Processing Centers Army Private Cloud (APC2) initiative. These five-year, multiple-award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts have a combined potential value of $249.8 million to all awardees.

Under the fixed Suite of APC2, General Dynamics will establish a secure, reliable and cost-efficient managed service cloud computing platform. Under the mobile Suite of APC2, General Dynamics will provide a mobile data center solution to meet urgent Army needs in contingency operations or where rapid or temporary computing is critical. In addition to providing strategic cloud computing direction, General Dynamics will manage network connectivity, information assurance, certification and accreditation, application migration, private cloud operations and maintenance and related aspects of the supply chain. The company will incorporate its field-proven design to deliver reliable, secure and transportable mobile data centers suitable for harsh conditions and remote locations...

Cloud computing has found its way into many organizations as business leaders and IT departments look to capitalize on the many benefits that cloud offers. As your company considers moving all or part of its IT operation to the cloud, a key decision is whether to rely on public cloud, private cloud, or a combination. Finalizing a cloud strategy must start with understanding your objectives and how they best align with the value each offering can provide.

The public cloud can be characterized by IT resources delivered via the Internet using a standardized, self-service, pay-per-use methodology. Public clouds are designed to provide compute resources virtually at will - similar to that of a utility. Public clouds are highly standardized, allow limited customization, and their respective resources can be oversubscribed and massively shared. Workloads requiring inexpensive storage or compute cycles where known response time to the user community is not critical can be a fit with the public cloud...